Mark Webber admitted he expected his Red Bull Racing team to be more competitive in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix after failing to reach to top positions.

Webber, using a new engine in the grid-deciding session, will start from ninth, one place behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, as most of the championship favourites faltered at Spa.

The Australian admitted the grid was a surprise for everybody, especially after Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella grabbed pole.

"That was a strange session - we expected to be more competitive than that," said Webber. "Fisi on pole! A great day for them, but we were surprised by that.

"A lot of the guys were too quick for us; it shows you just never know in this game. It should be an interesting race tomorrow. We had to change the engine before qualifying, but that wouldn't affect our result and we were pretty confident going into the session.

"We put in a new engine as we had to make some checks on the one that we used this morning, but it looks like it is okay."

Vettel said he is expecting a difficult race after qualifying on the fourth row, and he too claimed Fisichella's pole came as a shock.

"It was quite an interesting session - and not the best for us obviously; eighth and ninth will be tough tomorrow on the grid," he said.

"Unfortunately I made a mistake on my last flying lap in Q3. I lost the rear going into Turn 14, which leads on to the back straight and lost all the speed, so there was no point in completing the lap.

"The results were quite a surprise today; I don't think anyone expected Fisi to be on pole."

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